San Francisco Symphony - RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite, Opus 35 San Francisco Symphony Music Then and Now: Twentieth Century and Contemporary Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite, Opus 35 NICOLAI ANDREIEVICH RIMSKY-KORSAKOV was born on March 18, 1844, in Tishkin, near Novgorod, Russia, and died in Liubensk, near Saint Petersburg, on June 21, 1908. He conceived the idea of composing Scheherazade in the winter of 1887-88 and completed the four movements on July 16, 23, and 28, and August 7, 1888. He conducted the first performance at one of the Russian Symphony Concerts at the Club of Nobility, Saint Petersburg, on November 3 that year. Emil Paur conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the first North American performance on February 2, 1897.

Henry Hadley led the first San Francisco Symphony performance on February 2, 1913 (and Pierre Monteux led the Orchestra in a famous recording of the work), and the most recent performances were given in February 2009 under the direction of Charles Dutoit. The score calls for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, tam-tam, harp, and strings. Performance time: about forty-six minutes. I would guess that ninety-nine percent of Rimsky-Korsakov performances in this country are accounted for by three works, the Capriccio espagnol, Scheherazade, and the Russian Easter Overture, all written within the space of about a year and a half in 1887 and 1888. In fact, these works virtually marked the end of Rimsky-Korsakov’s career as a composer of orchestral music.

In 1889, he determined to devote most of his energies to writing for the theater. As a boy and young man, Rimsky-Korsakov, many of whose ancestors had been military or naval men, planned a life in the navy. Nicolai’s musical gifts had also manifested early, and by the time he began cadet school, he was already a fairly good pianist and an eager if unpolished composer. When he was seventeen, his piano teacher introduced him to Mily Balakirev, Borodin, and Mussorgsky. Balakirev is the least significant of these as a composer, but he was a vigorous instigator, full of interesting ideas and plans for others, and he found a place in history as the intellectual leader of the group of nationalists—himself, Borodin, César Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov—who came to be known as the Mighty Handful or the Mighty Five. The still teenaged Rimsky-Korsakov fell under Balakirev’s spell immediately.

He continued his naval pursuits for a time—not without profit, because his travels to the United States (during the Civil War), the Near East, and Asia were immensely stimulating to his imagination—but the first important step toward turning him into a real composer had been taken. He was still, in his own description, “an officer-dilettante who sometimes enjoyed playing and listening to music,” but with his return to Russia and renewed contact with Balakirev, his proper destiny became clear to him. He became the complete musical citizen. He composed, but he also conducted, taught, and was a generous friend to colleagues. In the winter of 1887-88, he was bringing into performable shape the unfinished opera Prince Igor by his recently deceased friend Alexander Borodin. While engaged with this music, with its east-of-Saint-Petersburg flavor, he conceived the idea of Scheherazade. From the beginning, he could not quite make up his mind about the balance between the programmatic and the purely musical elements. How much Arabian Nights, how much just music?

And while programmatic elements were undoubtedly present in Scheherazade and played an important part in the shaping of the work, Rimsky-Korsakov did not want his listeners to be distracted by being glued to extra-musical detail. He headed the score with this preface: “The Sultan Shahriar, convinced of the duplicity and infidelity of all women, vowed to slay each of his wives after the first night. The Sultana Scheherazade, however, saved her life by the expedient of recounting to the Sultan a succession of tales over a period of one thousand one nights. Overcome by curiosity, the monarch postponed the execution of his wife from day to day, and ended by renouncing his sanguinary resolution altogether.” “In composing Scheherazade I meant the hints [conveyed by the titles] to direct the listener’s fancy but slightly on the path which my own fancy had traveled,” Rimsky wrote in his memoirs.

“All I had desired was that the listener, if he liked my piece as symphonic music, should carry away the impression that it is beyond doubt an Oriental narrative of some numerous and varied fairy-tale wonders and not merely four pieces played one after another and composed on the basis of themes common to all four movements.” Scheherazade is a wonderful piece. It is full of glorious solo opportunities. Its vitality, the charm of its tunes, and the effortless brilliance of its orchestration never fail to make an impression and to give delight. One of the programmatic elements of which we can be certain is the portrayal of Sultan and Sultana in the first minute. The unison and fortissimo proclamation that opens the work obviously represents the former, a brutal psychopath. Fairy-tale chords for soft woodwinds lead to the seductive and flattering violin-voice of Scheherazade herself. And now the symphonic suite can begin. The first movement is spacious music—call it Prelude, call it “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship,” or simply Allegro non troppo. The measures are broad, and the pace of harmonic change is majestic.

The Sultan’s motif is the principal one; the Scheherazade violin also returns, and in a manner that suggests she is doing more than just telling stories. Development is cleverly and effectively mixed with simple statement and restatement. The chapter ends dreamily. Scheherazade herself begins the second movement. After her brief introduction, the bassoon leads off with a wistful theme. The intensity is heightened when the oboe takes this melody, but the violins change its character to grazioso. Brass fanfares erupt, leading to one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s most imaginative orchestral inventions, a clarinet recitative over the unmeasured strumming of plucked strings. Fanfares again open the way to the second main part of the movement, a swift, feather-light scherzo that is both reminiscent of Berlioz’s “Queen Mab” and prophetic of Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The fanfares return, as does the recitative, this time declaimed by the bassoon, and the movement makes its way to a brilliant ending. The tender third movement returns to the more leisurely gait of the first.

It is a lovely flow of lyric invention, scored with remarkable finesse, the writing for quiet percussion being especially charming. Scheherazade has her say, but it is with the lyric main theme that the movement comes to its gentle and smiling close. The finale opens much as the first movement did, with the contrast of Sultan and Sultana, though this version is more elaborate. The music, after this double introduction, is quick and exciting. With the appearance of the Sultan’s theme, grandly declaimed by the trombones against swirling strings, the suite arrives at its rhetorical high point. It subsides into sinister shudderings, punctuated by a single stroke on the tam-tam—a nice instance of the composer’s elegant economy with all his colorful percussion. Appropriately enough, it is Scheherazade who has the last word. When her sinuous melody returns, her mode of address is sweet and capricious. Then she repeats way down on the fourth string—one can just see the nightgown slipping off her shoulder—and the music climbs, slowly, slowly, into the ether. This is going to be the first secure night’s sleep the lady has had in almost three years.

—Michael Steinberg Michael Steinberg, the San Francisco Symphony’s program annotator from 1979 to 1999 and a contributing writer to our program book until his death in July 2009, was one of the nation’s pre-eminent writers on music. We are privileged to continue publishing his program notes. His books are available at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall. More About the Music Recordings: Pierre Monteux conducting the San Francisco Symphony (RCA Victor Gold Seal) | Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (RCA Living Stereo) | Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Theater Orchestra (Philips) | Yuri Temirkanov with the New York Philharmonic (RCA Red Seal) Reading: My Musical Life, by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (translated by J.A. Joffee, Vienna House; Best Books) | Russian Music, by Alfred J. Swan (Norton) | Rimsky-Korsakov: A Short Biography, by Gerald Abraham (AMS Press) San Francisco Symphony Dvořák. Tchaikovsky. Smetana. Rimsky-Korsakov Dvořák. Tchaikovsky. Smetana.

Rimsky-Korsakov Carnaval, concert overture, Op. 92 Pyotr Tchaikovsky (marking 175 years since the composer’s birth) Five Pieces for Violin and Orchestra Bedřich Smetana Vlatva, symphonic poem from the cycle Má vlast Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 About the Concert In the early 1890s Antonín Dvořák conceived a symphonic triptych entitled Nature, Life, Love. The idea was realised and at the premiere the three works were performed as an integral cycle. Later, the parts of the triptych began to be performed individually as concert overtures and were given the titles of In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello. The impetuous and life-affirming character of the outer sections reminds one of the composer’s Slavonic Dances. The brief middle movement is a lyrical intermezzo that depicts images of nature. Against a background of a repetitive three-tone motif of the English horn there are solo responses from the flute, clarinet and violin.

In addition to his Violin Concerto, Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote five other pieces for the instrument and orchestra. They were all composed in the latter half of the 1870s. Melancholy Serenade was initially dedicated to the renowned violinist Leopold Auer, but when Auer rejected Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto the composer removed his dedication. As a result, the first performer of both the concerto and the serenade was Adolph Brodsky. In the music of the Serenade one can pick out the lyricism of Swan Lake. The melancholy mood of the outer sections is created by the romance-like intonations of the violin, while in the middle movement there are triumphant light and elegiac moods. The virtuoso Valse-Scherzo was composed for Tchaikovsky’s friend and pupil Iosif Kotek. Méditation, Scherzo and Mélodie form part of the cycle Souvenir d’un lieu cher. These were composed for violin and piano, though Alexander Glazunov produced an orchestral version after Tchaikovsky’s death.

By “un lieu cher (a dear place)” Tchaikovsky had meant the town of Brailov close to the estate of his friend Nadezhda von Meck. The virtuoso, flight-filled Scherzo in the spirit of a tarantella comes next to the Mélodie in the cycle – a miniature song without words – and the restrained and lyrical Méditation. The music of the latter was initially to be included in a violin concerto, but in the event Tchaikovsky transformed it into the basis of his famous Canzonetta. The cycle of six symphonic poems Má vlast by Bedřich Smetana is his greatest achievement in orchestral music. The most popular of the six poems is Vlatva, the name of the greatest river in the Czech Republic. The programme of the poem is related in detail by the composer: “The work depicts the path of the Vlatva from its very sources”. In the music one can hear the calls of hunting horns, the sounds of a peasant polka and the night-time chorus songs of mermaids.

In the culmination of the poem (with the composer’s remark “the powerful flow of the Vlatva”) one can hear a motif of the Vyšehrad Castle from the first poem in the cycle. Vladimir Khavrov Glinka’s Spanish overtures laid the basis to an engaging chapter in the history of Russian classical music. “Russian Spain” came to life in masterpieces by Dargomyzhsky and Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky and Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich... Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol (1887) emerged from sketches for a fantasia concertante for violin and orchestra based on Spanish folk themes. The composer’s initial idea developed and expanded far beyond the realms of a fantasia or suite founded on folkloric motifs. Before us we have a dazzling orchestral concerto – one of the first such examples in Russian music. In the five movements of the Capriccio we can imagine Spain in song and dance (Rimsky-Korsakov borrowed genuine folk themes from José Inzenga’s Collection of Folk Songs and Dances).

Thanks to the varicoloured yet transparent orchestration, colourfulness and richness of flavour (in particular the castanets included in the percussion section), the score of Capriccio espagnol is a veritable encyclopaedia of orchestral mastery. The first performance of Capriccio espagnol took place in St Petersburg on 5 December 1887 under the baton of the composer. Iosif Raiskin About the performers The Mariinsky Youth Philharmonic was founded in 1999 on the initiative of Valery Gergiev with the aim of training the next generation of theatre musicians and perfecting their performing skills. From that day to this, the orchestra has seen a constant flow of new young musicians. Since its inception, the orchestra has been conducted by such maestri as Gianandrea Noseda, Algirdas Paulavičius and Valery Gergiev himself, thus ensuring the continuity of traditions and involving young performers in the established routine of theatre life. The orchestra has also been conducted by Vladimir Feltsman, François Xavier-Roth, Kazuhiko Komatsu, Daniel Smith and young conductors from Russia, the USA, Greece and China who trained under Ilya Musin.

The orchestra made its first independent appearance in 1999 at the Stars of the White Nights festival when it featured in a performance of the opera Le nozze di Figaro. That same year saw the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra undertake its first tour to cities in Italy. The ensemble went on to perform in Finland, Germany and Japan. Thanks to the opening of the Mariinsky II the orchestra now has increased opportunities to present the public with its own unique programmes. Age category 6+ Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Zoran Minderovic Mainly known for his symphonic works, especially the popular symphonic suite Sheherazade, as well as the Capriccio Espagnol and the Russian Easter Festival Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov left an oeuvre that also included operas, chamber works, and songs. Rimsky-Korsakov 's music is accessible and engaging owing to his talent for tone-coloring and brilliant orchestration. Furthermore, his operas are masterful musical evocations of myths and legends.

Born in 1844, Rimsky-Korsakov studied the piano as a child but chose a naval career, entering the College of Naval Cadets in St. Petersburg in 1856. However, he continued with piano lessons; in fact, in 1859, Rimsky-Korsakov started working with the French pianist Theodore Canille, through whom he met Balakirev, an important mentor and friend. In 1862, after graduating form the naval school, Rimsky-Korsakov was at sea for two and a half years, devoting his free time to composition. Upon Rimsky-Korsakov 's return to St. Petersburg, in 1865, Balakirev conducted his friend's First Symphony, which was hailed as the first important symphonic work by a Russian composer. Rimsky-Korsakov was appointed professor of composition and orchestration at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. The following year, he married Nadezhda Purgold, a pianist.

In 1873, Rimsky-Korsakov left active duty, becoming inspector of navy orchestras, a job which he held until 1884. During the 1870s, Rimsky-Korsakov composed, conducted, and collected Russian folk songs. In 1878, he started composing the opera May Night, after a story by Nikolai Gogol , his first stage work based on a story containing fantastic motifs. Following the production of May Night, in 1880, Rimsky-Korsakov began work on Snow Maiden, based on Nikolai Ostrovsky's poetic retelling of a Slavic myth, which was performed in 1882. Saddened by Mussorgsky 's death, in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov devoted himself to editing his friend's unpublished manuscripts. A master orchestrator, Rimsky-Korsakov felt obliged to help colleagues whose manuscripts needed revision. Thus, in 1887, when Borodin died, Rimsky-Korsakov agreed to orchestrate and complete Borodin's opera Prince Igor.

Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the Spanish Capriccio in 1887, completing the Russian Easter Overture and Sheherazade the following year. Having composed these resplendent works, however, Rimsky-Korsakov went through a period of despondency; there were deaths in his family, and, in 1893, Tchaikovsky died. In 1895, Rimsky-Korsakov 's Christmas Eve, another opera after a Gogol story, was produced. The composer's subsequent works recreated the rich world of Russian myths and legends. Sadko, completed in 1896, conjured up a medieval Russian legend. In 1901, Rimsky-Korsakov blended the legend of Kitezh and the story of St. Fevroniya to create a complex Christian-pantheistic narrative. Completed in 1905, the year when the politically progressive composer was temporarily dismissed from this teaching post, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden, was produced in 1907.

Rimsky-Korsakov 's last opera, The Golden Cockerel, completed in 1907, was inspired by a politically subversive story by Alexander Pushkin . The production of this work was a struggle, because the subject matter aroused suspicions among government censors. The opera was finally produced, in 1909, the year following the composer's death, by a private opera company in Moscow. Classical musical midi, a good place to read a composers biography with a list classical midi files for download. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV NIKOLAY ANDREYEVICH 18th March 1844 --- 21st June 1908 Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolay Andreyevich(born 1844, Tikhvin, near Novgorod, Russia--died 1908, Lyubensk), Russian composer, teacher, and editor who advanced the cause of Russian national music.

Among his most famous works are the operas Snow Maiden (1882), Sadko (1898), The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia (1907), and Le Coq d'or (1909); the symphonic suite Scheherazade (1888); Capriccio espagnol (1887); and The Russian Easter Festival overture (1888). Rimsky-Korsakov's father was a government official of liberal views; his mother was well educated and could play the piano. His uncle was an admiral in the Russian navy and his elder brother a marine officer; from them Rimsky-Korsakov acquired his abiding love for the sea. When he was 12 years old the family moved to St. Petersburg, where he entered the naval academy. At the age of 15 he began taking piano lessons with Thï¿½odore Canillï¿½, a professional pianist, who also taught him the rudiments of composition.

In 1861 he met the composer Mily Balakirev, a man of great musical culture, and under the older man's guidance he began to compose a symphony. In 1862 he was graduated from the naval academy. Soon afterward he sailed on the clipper ship "Almaz" on a long voyage, the vessel anchoring in New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., at the height of the U.S. Civil War. The Russian sailors were cordially welcomed there, since Russia was politically sympathetic toward the North. Subsequent ports of call were Brazil (where Rimsky-Korsakov was promoted to the rank of midshipman), Spain, Italy, France, England, and Norway. The ship returned to its Russian home port in Kronstadt (Kronshtadt) in May 1865. For young Rimsky-Korsakov the voyage confirmed a fascination with the sea. Aquatic scenes abound in his operas and symphonic works: the ocean in Scheherazade, Sadko, and The Tale of Tsar Saltan, the lake in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia. On his return to St.

Petersburg, he completed the symphony begun before his voyage, and it was performed with gratifying success in St. Petersburg on Dec. 31, 1865, when the composer was only 21 years old. It was an auspicious beginning to his career, it was also the first performance of a full-fledged symphony by a Russian. His next important work was Fantasy on Serbian Themes for orchestra, first performed at a concert of Slavonic music conducted by Balakirev in St. Petersburg, on May 24, 1867. The occasion was of historic significance, for, in reviewing the concert, the critic Vladimir Stasov proudly proclaimed that henceforth Russia, too, had its own "mighty little heap" (moguchaya kuchka) of native composers. The title caught on quickly and found its way into music history books, with specific reference to Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Aleksandr Borodin, Cï¿½sar Cui, and Modest Mussorgsky, who became collectively known as "The Five," and whose purpose was to assert the musical independence of Russia from the West.

Of "The Five," Rimsky-Korsakov was the most learned and the most productive, his works embrace all genres, but he excelled mostly in the field of opera. So high was Rimsky-Korsakov's reputation that in 1871, still as a very young man, he was engaged to teach composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In his autobiographical Chronicle of My Musical Life he frankly admitted his lack of qualifications for this important position; he himself had never taken a systematic academic course in musical theory, even though he had profited from Balakirev's desultory instruction and by Tchaikovsky's professional advice. Eager to complete his own musical education, he undertook in 1873 an ambitious program of study, concentrating mainly on counterpoint and the fugue. He ended his studies in 1875 by sending 10 fugues to Tchaikovsky, who found them impeccable. In 1873 he left the naval service and assumed charge of military bands as inspector and conductor. Although he lacked brilliance as an orchestral leader, he attained excellent results in training inexperienced instrumentalists. His first professional appearance on the podium took place in St.

Petersburg on March 2, 1874, when he conducted the first performance of his Third Symphony. In the same year he was appointed director of the Free Music School in St. Petersburg, a post that he held until 1881. He served as conductor of concerts at the court chapel from 1883 to 1894. Between 1886 and 1900 he was chief conductor of the Russian symphony concerts. In 1889 he led concerts of Russian music at the Paris World Exposition; in the spring of 1907 he conducted in Paris two Russian historic concerts in connection with Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Rimsky-Korsakov rendered an inestimable service to Russian music as the de facto editor and head of a unique publishing enterprise financed by the Russian industrialist Belayev and dedicated exclusively to the publication of music by Russian composers. After Mussorgsky's death, Rimsky-Korsakov edited his scores for publication, making radical changes in what he considered Mussorgsky's awkward melodic and harmonic progressions, and he practically rewrote Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina.

His edited and altered version of Boris Godunov evoked sharp criticism as a pedantically professorial arrangement of a great innovating masterpiece; but his masterly handling of the materials cannot be denied. Mussorgsky's score was later published in 1928 and had several performances in Russia and abroad, but ultimately the more effective Rimsky-Korsakov version prevailed in opera houses. Rimsky-Korsakov also edited (with the composer Glazunov) the posthumous works of Borodin. A strict disciplinarian in artistic matters, he was also a severe critic of his own music. He made constant revisions of his early compositions, in which he found technical imperfections. As a result, double dates, indicating early and revised versions, frequently occur in his catalog of works. He was at his best and most typical in descriptive orchestration, in suggesting a place or an ambience. With two exceptions (Servilia and Mozart and Salieri), the subjects of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas are taken from Russian or other Slavonic fairy tales, literature, and history.

The most important among them are Snow Maiden, Sadko, The Tsar's Bride, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, and Le Coq d'or. Although these operas are part of the Stevenular repertory in Russian opera houses, they are rarely heard abroad; only Le Coq d'or enjoys occasional production in western Europe and America. Of the composer's orchestral works, the best known are Capriccio espagnol (1887), the symphonic suite Scheherazade (1888), and Russian Easter Festival overture (1888). "The Flight of the Bumble Bee" from The Tale of Tsar Saltan and the "Song of India" from Sadko are perennial favourites in a variety of arrangements. Rimsky-Korsakov's songs are distinguished by simple elegance and fine Russian prosody; his chamber music is of less importance. He also wrote a piano concerto. As professor of composition and orchestration at the St.

Petersburg Conservatory from 1871 until the end of his life (with the exception of a brief period in 1905 when he was dismissed by the reactionary directorate for his defense of students on strike), he taught two generations of Russian composers, and his influence, therefore, was pervasive. Igor Stravinsky studied with him privately for several years. His Practical Manual of Harmony (1884) and Fundamentals of Orchestration (posthumous, 1913) are still used as basic musical textbooks in Russia. (N.Sl.) MAJOR WORKS. Operas.

Sixteen, including Pskovityanka (first performed 1873; The Maid of Pskov); La Nuit de Mai (1880; May Night); Snegurochka (1882; Snow Maiden); Sadko (1898); Mozart et Salieri (1898; Mozart and Salieri); La Fiancï¿½e du tsar (1899; The Tsar's Bride); Skazka o tsare Saltane (1900; The Tale of Tsar Saltan); Servilia (1902); Kashchey Bessmertny (1902; Kashchey the Immortal); Skazaniye o nevidimom grade Kitezhe i deve Fevroniy (1907; The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia); Le Coq d'or (1909; The Golden Cockerel). Choral works. Song of Oleg the Wise, after Pushkin, for tenor, bass, male chorus, and orchestra (composed 1899), various settings of folk songs. Orchestral.

Symphonies: No. 1 in E Flat Minor (1861-65, rev. 1884); No. 2, Antar (1868, rev. 1876), No. 3 in C Major (1874, rev. 1886). Other orchestral music: Overture on Russian Themes (1866); Piano Concerto in C Sharp Minor (1882-83); Fantasy on Russian Themes for violin and orchestra (1886); Fantasy on Serbian Themes (1867); Capriccio espagnol (1887); symphonic suite Scheherazade (1888); overture, Russian Easter Festival (1888). Chamber music. String Quartet in F Major (1875), String Sextet in A Major (1876), Quintet for Piano and Winds in B Flat Major (1876), String Quartet in G Major (1897). Songs. More than 80 songs, mostly written in sets of four.

Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica ���������� ����� "����� ����" - �������-����� � �������� ������������ ������. ����������� ����. Three Wonders from the opera Tale of Tsar Saltan Tchaikovsky Symphony orchestra Vladimir Fedoseyev Recorded: May 13 2003 at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire In the second half of the 1880th Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov interrupted his work on operas for a short pause. It was then that Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherezade were written. The symphonic masterpieces appeared one after another respectively in 1887 and 1888. Both Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherezade were destined to live a long and happy life on the concert stage. The main explanation for the success was a bright picturesque melodious material of the music but even more important пїЅ a natural and exciting manner in which it was developed. Rimsky-Korsakov was a poet of the orchestra.

So great was his mastery and ingenuity in combining and contrasting colours and timbers that this in itself was a phenomenon of art. пїЅIn Rimsky-KorsakovпїЅs scores пїЅ if the music depicts a snowstorm then you feel as if snowflakes are dancing breaking away from the violinsпїЅ strings. If the sun is rising then all the instruments dazzle you with the bright-red light. And if itпїЅs water then you hear in the orchestra the waves running and breaking into splashesпїЅ. We shall venture to continue the words by Sergei Rachmaninov. A stormy sea in which SinbadпїЅs ship is wrecked (Scheherezade , the forth movement, the stroke of tom-tom); sweet words by Scheherezade (violin solo) пїЅ these and other musical images sound like trying to overcome the frontiers of music to become a visual phenomenon. Both Capriccio Espagnol and Scheherezade are build up as suites, thatпїЅs what these two works have in common. Capriccio is actually a sequence of dances.

The musical material of the first movement reappears in the third and fifth movements and it brings some features of rondo into the whole structure. Scheherezade on the other hand is closer to the genre of sonata. Three out of four movements are sonata-like. The general plan of the composition is also typical for sonatas: the last movement summarizes the material of the whole work. And, what is most important, the whole concept of the music is gradually built up out of relatively few themes. In the first edition of Scheherezade Rimsky-Korsakov gave some descriptive titles to every movement of the composition. By his own words, he was guided by the programme of the music with pictures from the Thousand and One Arabian Nights, like пїЅThe Sea and SinbadпїЅs ShipпїЅ, пїЅThe Story of the Prince-KalandarпїЅ, пїЅThe Young Prince and PrincessпїЅ, пїЅпїЅFestival in Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze HorsemanпїЅ. However later on the composer annulled the titles.

He also warned against excessive search of direct connections between leit-motifs and the same repeating poetical ideas. пїЅAppearing every time in a different light the same motifs and themes every time correspond to different images, actions and picturesпїЅ, he said. Three Wonders is a well-known symphonic picture. ItпїЅs an introduction to the last, 6th picture of the opera Tale of Tsar Saltan. The opera was written in 1899 пїЅ 1900 and first staged in the Savva MamontovпїЅs Russian Private Opera in 1900. Musical themes in the opera relate to a fairy city of Ledenets and appear each in a proper moment of the opera. Strictly speaking there are four wonders, not three: a squirrel sitting under a fir-tree, cracking golden nuts with kernels of pure emeralds and singing song; thirty three knights rising from the waves led by old Uncle Chernomor; a Swan-Princess; and the City of Ledenets. It is remarkable that Rimsky-KorsakovпїЅs wonders are purely Russian.

The theme of the squirrel for example is borrowed from the folk song In the Garden, while the theme of the Swan Princess is taken from the folk song A Duck in the Sea. Mikhail Segelman Vladimir Fedoseev was borh in Leningrad and studied in Moscow at the Gnesins Academy of Music and then did postgraduate studies at Moscow Conservatoire with Professor Leo Ginzburg. In 1971 he was invited by Evgeny Mravinsky to guest conduct the Leningrad Philarmonic Orchestra. The great success of the concert helped to launch his conducting career. Since 1974 Vladimir Fedoseev has been working as the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tchaikovsky Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra which is RussiaпїЅs leading symphony orchestra. With this orchestra maestro Fedoseev made many successful tours of European countries, USA, South America, Japan and Australia. Vladimir Fedoseev collaborates with leading orchestras in Europe including ZurichпїЅs Tonhalle, LeipcigпїЅs Gevandhaus, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Orchestra.

In 1996 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1997 Vladimir Fedoseev was appointed Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. As a highly acclaimed operatic conductor Fedoseev is a regular guest conductor at the Zurich Opera as well as Opera Theatres in Milano, Paris, Vienna, Bologna, FlorenceпїЅ In 1996 he was awarded the prestigious Russian Order for Services to the Motherland and the same year he received from the Austrian Republic the Silver Cross for his services to music in Austria. He was also awarded the Golden Star of the honourable citizen of Vienna and its territory in October 2002. Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol, Overtures, / Schwarz, Seattle, Symphony - Nax - HBDirect Genres Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Composer) (1844 - 1908) Notes & Reviews: Rimsky-Korsakov's colorful Capriccio espagnol reflects a Russian fascination with distant lands, evoking sunny climes and exotic dancing in one of the composer's most popular and uplifting scores.

Steeped in the cultural nationalism of the 'Mighty Handful', the Overtures are linked to deeply Russian themes and tales, portraying dramatic life amongst the Tsars with brilliant orchestration and inspired use of folk or liturgical melodies. This release follows the multi-GRAMMY®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Seattle Symphony 'spectacular' (MusicWeb International) recording of Sheherazade (8.572693). Fanfare the Naxos disc consists mostly of material that is much less frequently encountered, and in these pieces Schwarz's approach is more persuasive. May Night was Rimsky's second opera... has much beauty and charm. Schwarz's rendition of the overture is well played... Schwarz's hard-driving approach suits the Tsar's Bride overture well, and the clarity of texture he secures is also beneficial to this piece... Naxos has given Schwarz recorded sound that is very bright and clear... Ritmo Music by Rimsky has a special "color". To be precise: it has a "flavor" special, according to this critic. Few composers cause synesthesia so clear in the writer of these lines as the author of Scheherazade.

American Record Guide Naxos is on a Russian roll this month with a double-hitter from this member of The Five. Bass Mikhail Kazakov, who made an impressive star turn in Dallas earlier this year in the title role of Boris Godunov, headlines the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari's The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, a dreamy work widely thought to be the Russian Parsifal. Also out this month on Naxos are orchestral suites from several of Rimsky-Korsakov's other operas, including The Snow Maiden, Sadko and Le Coq d'or. Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony are in incredibly fine form with this repertoire, which you can also hear on recordings of Scheherazade and Capriccio espagnol, also released on Naxos this past May and September, respectively. MusicWeb International All are played with considerable aplomb and do a fine job of whetting one's appetite for the full scores. Schwar ... offers an attractive account of the composer's orchestration of the radical student song Dubinushka ... it certainly benefits from Naxos's state of the art recording ...

these Seattle Symphony recordings of Russian virtuoso showpieces are an excellent illustration of the amazingly high standards being achieved by other previously unheralded orchestras all over the globe. Classic FM Rimsky's orchestral music is so deftly written that in the hands of today's top-flight professionals it almost plays itself. But the Seattle Symphony's performances for Gerard Schwarz don't just sparkle, as you would expect at this kind of supercharged American technical level. Their brilliant response is also strongly characterised at every point; Capriccio espagnol here has a dark and spicy pungency that makes it something more than just a pretty Spanish postcard ... It's genuinely difficult to imagine better performances. This is a delicious orchestral feast. Infodad.com ... a nearly complete success and a real pleasure to hear. This is a CD worth having for the combination of interesting repertoire and very fine presentation. Allmusic.com Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol and the Russian Easter Overture are the most popular works on this 2011 Naxos release by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony, but don't sell the rest of the program short for unfamiliarity.

Even though the remaining overtures are less popular with western audiences (undoubtedly because they aren't played as often as the featured piece), they are still colorful works that are full of Rimsky-Korsakov's dazzling orchestration, memorable melodies, and sparkling exoticism, a quality which was especially prized by Russian composers of the 19th century. Schwarz and his orchestra clearly relish these pieces, because the execution is sharp and the energy levels are high throughout, and the music is immediately engaging and captivating. While the Seattle Symphony is widely respected for its extensive repertoire, including substantial masterpieces, its brilliance in lighter orchestral music has attracted many listeners, and its recordings for Naxos are among that label's most attractive offerings. The reproduction is generally excellent through the album... Classical Candor The piece builds to a wonderfully joyous conclusion in which Schwarz seems to take great relish... played at a moderate level, the sound is smooth enough and easily listenable. MusicWeb International Familiar as the pieces in this collection may be, the performance, sound quality and interpretation stands out for the vitality, creativity, and resonance that comes with this recording.

Under Schwarz's direction a well-known piece like Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture sounds fresh... admirable for the exemplary performances Audio Video Club of Atlanta Capriccio espagnol is given a stunning performance here... This is perhaps Gerard Schwarz' finest hour with the Seattle Symphony, even more than their stunning 1992 account of the Russian Easter for the Delos label. Forget the "budget label" stigma: with the committed musicianship and stunningly beautiful recorded sound we hear on this Naxos offering, it should be a contender for honors in one or more categories when next the Grammys are handed out! ClassicsToday.com Here is yet another brilliant, glittering collection of Rimsky-Korsakov orchestral music, made all the more appealing by the intelligently planned program. The two biggest, most popular works, Capriccio espagnol and the Russian Easter Overture, bracket the rest of the program - a delightful selection of opera overtures, Dubinushka, and the rarely heard but lovely Overture on Russian Themes. Two of these, the overtures to May Night and The Tsar's Bride, are quite substantial on their own, and they deserve to be played more frequently.

MusicWeb International This is rousing music but it's also music to wallow in and Schwarz gives you both aspects - a brisk account of Capriccio espagnol gets us off to a good start, followed by a May Night that begins with all the mystery of Ansermet's classic account but in better sound. The Overture on Russian Themes almost brings the house down, but leave just enough voltage for the Easter Overture, my favorite of all Rimsky favorites, to finish in rousing style. MusicWeb International This is another demonstration of the high standards of performance that Gerard Schwarz has achieved in a long-term relationship with this orchestra. Rimsky's evocative scores with their characteristically colourful orchestrations are a gift to conductors of an extrovert disposition; Schwarz takes full advantage of the opportunity they offer to bring the house down. Notes & Reviews:

Question: Who, in 1887, composed the symphonic poem "Capriccio Espagnol"?
Answer: Rimsky-Korsakov